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A judge said today that the Detroit bankruptcy is not allowed under the State constitution, which says that the city can take no action that would lessen public employee pensions. So, unless the unions actually agree to reduce their own pension shortfalls the city cannot declare bankruptcy. Then what?

Mark Steyn today was talking about a small city, Namtraklik (or something like that) sits near the Canadian border, and is mostly surrounded by the city of Detroit; also has a small common border with Highland Park. The town council wants to build a 14-ft wall around it's town so that people can only go in and out with a photo ID! Reminds me of West Berlin sitting surrounded by East Germany during the Cold War.

G.Clinchy@gmail.com"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim

​I don't use the PM feature, so just email me direct at the address shown above.

A judge said today that the Detroit bankruptcy is not allowed under the State constitution, which says that the city can take no action that would lessen public employee pensions. So, unless the unions actually agree to reduce their own pension shortfalls the city cannot declare bankruptcy. Then what?

Mark Steyn today was talking about a small city, Namtraklik (or something like that) sits near the Canadian border, and is mostly surrounded by the city of Detroit; also has a small common border with Highland Park. The town council wants to build a 14-ft wall around it's town so that people can only go in and out with a photo ID! Reminds me of West Berlin sitting surrounded by East Germany during the Cold War.

Well, lets don't forget Grand Funk Railroad! I work with a guy that spent his first 30 years in Detroit. Yet, he and his wife both drive Nissans. According to him, the best thing the city could do is ban all private and public sector unions. The public sector union is by far the biggest reason for Detroit's debt and the private sector unions is why business won't relocate there. Also, the more they have raised taxes the worse it became, having the opposite affect of what the politicians thought it would do.

The Grand Funk Railroad comes from Swartz Creek, Michigan. The town is about 10 miles west of Flint. The band got its name from the Grand Trunk Railroad which passed through the town.

One of GM’s foreign subsidiaries received a $275 million bailout from Australian taxpayers to keep its operations afloat and is reportedly seeking an additional $265 million from local and federal authorities.Holden, GM’s Australian subsidiary, faces the same problems that led to General Motors’ 2009 bankruptcy. GM spends $3,750 (Australian) more to build a car in Australia than the average cost amongst all international GM plants. Lucrative labor agreements are responsible for 65 percent of that amount.GM has seen its market share decrease by two percent last year, according to its last quarterly report. Low-cost imports from China and Korea have undercut its sales, despite sizable tariffs imposed on imported automobiles.“Chinese pick-up trucks cost half of what a GM pick-up costs,” said Dave Sullivan, an analyst with the Auto Pacific research firm. “The labor rates are extremely high [in Australia] and they tried to protect the market with duties and tariffs, but imports are eating GM’s lunch.”GM is now slashing prices and negotiating with the union to stem the tide on its price increases.“We can’t survive as a local manufacturer if we’re not competitive and we don’t reduce our costs,” Holden chairman Mike Devereux said in a Junestatement. “All options for improving productivity are on the table. We will work closely with the unions and our people to develop a fair and reasonable proposal in line with other local manufacturers across all industries.”

G.Clinchy@gmail.com"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim

​I don't use the PM feature, so just email me direct at the address shown above.

It looks like this fellow Kevyn Orr tells it like it is, without sugar-coating.

“This is the only way,” emergency manager Kevyn Orr told “Fox News Sunday.” “We were compelled to file for bankruptcy.”

Orr steadfastly stuck to what he said was his appointed mission of getting Detroit out from under $19 billion in debt, declining to speculate on whether or if the federal government should bail out the city, once the worldwide hub of auto manufacturing.

He said his goal was to restructure the debt, including roughly $3.5 million in underfunded pension liabilities, and to get Detroit on its feet again by fall 2014.